


sinners & saints

by DesertLily



Series: Whumptober 2020 [8]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Background Les Amis de l'ABC, Child Abuse, Depression, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Isolation, Modern Era, One-Sided Marius Pontmercy/Éponine Thénardier, Physical Abuse, References to Depression, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:14:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26887948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertLily/pseuds/DesertLily
Summary: Éponine was never one for sharing her problems. Instead, she chose to hide them; to keep them to herself. But eventually things become too much and she finds herself finally turning to those around her; finally asking for help.
Relationships: Combeferre/Courfeyrac (Les Misérables), Cosette Fauchelevent/Marius Pontmercy, Marius Pontmercy & Éponine Thénardier
Series: Whumptober 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946296
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	sinners & saints

**Author's Note:**

> Please read the tags before reading!! For the 'backhand slap' prompt for Whumptober!

As terrible as it sounded, Éponine hated her parents. She had for a long time. They were cold people; artificial. They had long since stopped caring about her as a human being; as a daughter. Instead, she was just an asset to them - to be used as they saw fit. And when she stepped out of line? Her father especially was always eager to remind her of her place. Éponine had the scars and bruises to prove it. It was fear that stopped her leaving them for good; fear of what they would do to her or her siblings if she did. No matter what, Azelma and Gavroche went first. Keeping them as safe as she could went above her own self-interest. She was the oldest; it was her job to look after them. Her parents had never taken much interest in them so Éponine had had to step in. She’d had to do her best. And for the most part? She’d kept them safe.

A long time ago, Éponine had tried to convince herself that her parents weren’t so terrible. They had been kind to her as a child, treating her to whatever gifts her heart desired. That had been before they lost the inn; back when her family actually had money. She had thought the world of her parents back then but she had been naive. In her idolisation, Éponine had overlooked the treatment of Cosette. She had ignored the first warning sign that her parents weren’t good people; that something was terribly wrong. She had always looked down on Cosette and dismissed the girl as being worthless. But now she lived the life they had forced Cosette into. Now she understood how unjustly she had treated the girl. But Éponine wasn’t like Cosette. There was no one there to whisk her away to safety or to a better life. There was no happy ending in sight. 

She was lonely for a long time after that. Protecting her siblings and getting dragged into her parents latest scheme left her with little time for friends. Besides, she had Montparnasse and he was more than enough. The two understood each other. Then someone moved into the flat above and everything changed. Marius Pontmercy was older than her but he never held that against her. He never looked down on her for her age or her social class. He treated her like a human being; like how she imagined friends treated each other. He made time with her - if only to catch up or ask her about her day. That was when the crush started. It was dumb, really. He was older than her; a student at the local university. There was no possible reason his interest in her would ever be anything more than platonic but still Éponine found herself daydreaming. She still found herself imagining being happy with him. Though, part of her questioned the legitimacy of the crush. Did it just come from the fact Marius was the first outsider to actually care about her? To willingly let her into his life. 

It wasn’t too long until she found herself introduced to Marius’s friends. A group of students of varying ages that (mostly) shared the same ideals. They wanted to change the world and quite frankly? Éponine didn’t care for it. She’d been through hell. She had been looked down on for growing up poor. She had no patience for the ideals of well-off students ready to play revolutionary. Maybe it was in part out of jealousy. Maybe it was in part because she was tired of people trying to change the world; to help. That wasn’t to say she didn’t care for them as people. They were all nice enough in their own ways. They were good company. Her opinion of them only increased when Éponine found out how much Gavroche adored them after he had tagged along to a few of their ‘meetings’ (half of the time they were more social gatherings than anything else - though, there was the occasional event or protest planned). After all, anyone that genuinely cared about her siblings was good enough in her books. Azelma never tagged along to the meetings; always keeping her distance. She seemed to believe in change even less than Éponine did. Then again, Azelma was young enough that she probably didn’t have any memories of when they had had a good life. 

Out of all of his friends, Courfeyrac was the one Marius was closest to. He was one of the most welcoming in the group in general - always having a friendly smile for just about everyone he passed. It was part of why he worked well with Enjolras and Combeferre - the other two founders of the group; their personalities were all different enough that they blended neatly when combined. His closeness to Marius had never bothered her. After all, he was allowed to have friends outside of her! Then Marius was excitedly announcing to her how he was moving into the spare room in Courfeyrac’s flat and her opinion of the man soured entirely.Then, just like that, her friend was gone. Of course, she still saw Marius on occasion and still made some effort to attend meetings but it wasn’t the same. He was busy all the time now; having no time for their little moments of conversation. She had no excuse to tag along with him anymore. 

Then came Cosette. The second the two met, they recognised each other. It had been years but she knew Cosette’s face and Cosette knew hers. Éponine’s childhood had been full of moments tormenting the other girl making her feel lower than lower. But she didn’t hold it against her. Not entirely. Instead, she  _ forgave _ her. That wasn’t to say they were instant friends. Of course not! If anything, Cosette’s forgiveness just made Éponine angry. She didn’t deserve it! She deserved to be hated; looked down on by those around her. Her parents already did it every day so how dare Cosette not! Especially when she had the perfect reason for despising Éponine. But she didn’t. Then Cosette started dating Marius and things got so much worse. Her time spent with Marius was now non-existent. He was always busy with university or his friends or Cosette. There was no time for the strange girl that had lived in the apartment below. It was only made worse by Cosette’s many attempts to befriend her’ insisting she wanted Marius’s friends to be comfortable around her. Éponine was never anything but cold towards her. She couldn’t help it. Cosette had unknowingly stolen the person Éponine loved most - even if she had had no chance with Marius to begin with. 

Things only spiralled after that. Éponine stopped attending the meetings entirely. She ignored anyone she passed in the streets. Pretending she didn’t hear them when they tried to talk to her. She ignored every call and text until  _ finally _ they stopped trying. Everyone stopped trying.They gave up on her just like she deserved. It was understandable. Things got worse at home. She argued more with her parents and paid the price for it. Gavroche was rarely home anymore; usually spending the night with one of Marius’s friends. They were fond of him (or perhaps they pitied him) and always made sure he had somewhere to say - even if he flat out refused when they offered to contact child services. Montparnasse had offered up his apartment to both Azelma and Éponine but she had refused. Someone needed to stay with her parents; to stop them going after her siblings. With no one else around, Éponine became the soul victim of their anger. But she could handle it. She could always handle it. 

Then one day it became too much. Her father went too far. It started when she felt the back of his palm slam against her cheek, forcing her face to snap to the side in the process. Éponine didn’t even know what she’d done to anger him but she had long since learnt that it was never worth asking. But it wasn’t just one slap. It was multiple. It was punches and kicks and  _ God, everything hurt _ . When it was over, she just lay sprawled on the ground. For a long time, Éponine didn’t move. She just...lay there, staring up at the ceiling. There wasn’t a single part of her that didn’t ache with pain. Then she slowly pushed herself to stand up. She needed to leave. She needed to get as far away from there as she could. But she had nowhere to go. Then Éponine remembered. Marius had given her his new address when he left, offering to let her visit whenever she wanted. It was an offer she had never taken him up on. 

It took her far longer than it should have to walk to Marius and Courfeyrac’s apartment. Each step made her stumble. Any outside that didn’t look too closely could have mistaken her from drunk given how clumsily she was walking. The twenty minute walk stretched out into an hour. But finally, she was there. Climbing each step to reach the apartment was  _ agony _ . The muscles in her legs ached and strained, but she was almost there.  _ She was almost safe _ . Éponine stood outside the door for a few moments, not quite bringing herself to knock. What if it was the wrong flat? What if Courfeyrac answered? What if Marius didn’t want her there? Taking a deep breath, she knocked three times. 

It wasn’t long until the door creaked open and she was greeted to the familiar sight of Marius Pontmercu. A soft smile was on his face but it soon fell when he took in the state she was in. “How ca- ‘Ponine?” There was no way she could possibly ignore the alarm in his voice as he stood there frozen; as if uncertain about what to do. 

Her voice shook as she tried to bring herself to speak. “M-Marius, I think I need help.” To his credit, he asked her no questions. He just hugged her tightly; protectively. It was...unfamiliar but in a good way. God, Éponine couldn’t remember the last time she’d been hugged. She just broke down in his arms, clinging to him desperately. “I-I didn’t know where to go.” 

“It’s okay.” His voice was gentle as he pulled her closer. “You’re going to be okay.” Marius moved to slip his hand into hers and slowly led her inside. He was quiet for a few moments as he moved to help her sit down on the sofa. It was old and worn but it was also  _ soft _ and  _ comfortable _ . Éponine practically sank into it. “I-I know you probably don’t want to go to a hospital but Courf’s boyfriend - Combeferre - is here. It’s not the same but he’s doing a medical degree. Would...Would you be okay with him looking you over?” She hesitated before nodding. Éponine had met Combeferre a few times before at meetings. He’d always been kind towards her; never giving her a reason to distrust him. Marius’s shoulders seemed to slump in relief as she nodded. “I-I’ll be back soon, okay?” 

At some point Marius came back with a glass of water and some painkillers, silently handing them over. She gave a small smile at that. At some point, Courfeyrac left his bedroom with Combeferre in tow. The former moved to sit besides her, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders. Éponine gladly leaned into the touch. She didn’t say much, only offering short answers whenever Combeferre asked her a question. She was practically statuesque in how still she was when he examined her. “Well, the good news is that nothing is broken.” He sighed.”The bad news is it’s still not great. There’s going to be a lot of bruising and sore muscles for a while. There’s not really a lot that can be down for that excluding ice, heat packs, and painkillers.” He gave her an apologetic smile. 

“Thank you.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “I-I appreciate it.” 

“You’re our friend, Éponine.” Her eyes focused entirely on Courfeyrac as she spoke. “We should have noticed sooner. We should have intervened.” But Éponine wasn’t taking in the rest of his words. Friend. He’d called her his friend. She had  _ friends _ . She had people who wanted to be there for her; that wanted to look after her. 

For the first time in her life, Éponine felt like she could breathe. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are always appreciated or hmu @ desert-lily on tumblr!


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